ORANGE COUNTY BOWL PREVIEW : Reversing Last Season’s Outcome Becomes Moorpark College’s Mission

When Moorpark College football players look at Orange County Bowl opponent Rancho Santiago they may, like Narcissus, see a reflection of themselves.

That doesn’t mean they’ll like what they see, although their mirror image could be just as dangerous as Narcissus’.

The teams’ similarity goes beyond the 9-1 records they each will take into today’s 1 p.m. game at LeBard Stadium in Costa Mesa. Both teams feature freshman All-American running backs and sophomore All-American linebackers who key balanced offenses and solid defenses.

Give Rancho Santiago an edge in the passing game and Moorpark an advantage on defense. Rancho Santiago is faster, Moorpark bigger. They ended the season ranked sixth and seventh in the state, respectively, so there is not supposed to be a great deal of difference. There wasn’t last year either when Rancho Santiago won the PONY Bowl, the Orange County Bowl’s predecessor, 17-10.

“They are willing to commit nine people to stop your run,” Moorpark Coach Jim Bittner said. “They play man on the corners, and we will test them there early. That may be the key to the game.”

Bittner believes that if quarterback Jayson Merrill can hit big-play receiver Peter Marine or possession receivers Rick Wright and Matt Young for chunks of yardage, Rancho Santiago will be forced to pull players off the line. That should give Moorpark’s mainstay, All-American running back Freddie Bradley, running room.

Moorpark allowed only 41 rushing yards per game but has yet to face a back the caliber of Rancho Santiago All-American Estrus Crayton (6-foot-3, 195 pounds), who ran for 1,340 yards and scored a Mission Conference-record 20 touchdowns.

Quarterback Scott Wood (6-4, 205) passed for 2,082 yards and has a pair of speedy sophomore wideouts, Royal Wilbon (5-10, 175) and Paul Peters (6-2, 185). Peters scored the winning touchdown last year on an 84-yard punt return.

The strength of both teams’ defenses is their linebackers. All-American Tom Briggs leads Moorpark with 36 behind-the-line tackles, and Scott Yurek has recovered from an ankle injury. Fred Soares (6-3, 230) had five of Rancho Santiago’s 22 interceptions.